The present invention relates to an optically variable security element for security papers, value documents and other data carriers, a method for manufacturing such a security element, and a data carrier having such a security element.
For protection, data carriers, such as value or identification documents, but also other valuable objects, such as branded articles, are often provided with security elements that permit the authenticity of the data carrier to be verified, and that simultaneously serve as protection against unauthorized reproduction.
Security elements having viewing-angle-dependent effects play a special role in safeguarding authenticity, as these cannot be reproduced even with the most modern copiers. Here, the security elements are furnished with optically variable elements that, from different viewing angles, convey to the viewer a different image impression and, depending on the viewing angle, display for example another color or brightness impression and/or another graphic motif.
For example, identification cards, such as credit cards or personal identity cards, have long been personalized by means of laser engraving. In personalization by laser engraving, the optical properties of the substrate material are irreversibly changed through suitable guidance of a laser beam in the form of a desired marking Such a laser marking makes it possible to combine the individualization in the data carrier with security elements and to integrate them into the print image more freely than with conventional individualization, for example with known numbering methods.
Publication EP 0 219 012 A1 describes an identification card having a partial lens grid pattern. Through said lens pattern, pieces of information are inscribed in the card from different angles with a laser. Said pieces of information can subsequently also be perceived only from said angle, such that, when the card is tilted, the different pieces of information appear.